


Worth it

by rathernotmyname



Series: Fictober! 2020 [27]
Category: Short Term 12 (2013)
Genre: During Canon, Fictober! Day 27, Gen, I just explored Nate's character a little and Didn't Project my Feelings Onto Him At All, I made all of his background up btw, No Plot/Plotless, No Rami Character Is Safe From Me, Short One Shot, bit of a personal vent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28107627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rathernotmyname/pseuds/rathernotmyname
Summary: After weeks of wiping blood off walls, being punched and spit in the face by angry teenagers ‘beyond remedy’, he can still feel his mom shaking her head on the other end of the line, his father mumbling about wasted potential he could have put into becoming a doctor, or at least a nurse.
Series: Fictober! 2020 [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050200
Kudos: 1





	Worth it

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note:  
> I DO NOT CONSENT TO MY WORK BEING HOSTED OR REPOSTED ON ANY UNOFFICIAL APPS OR WEBSITES OTHER THAN ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN WITHOUT MY APPROVAL, PARTICULARLY APPS WITH AD REVENUE AND SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES.

“It’s an ungrateful job,” his mother had always said.

Nate is sure that she’s right in some parts, because the pay is shit. Essential workers? Yeah, right.

Not even mentioning the looks people give you if you, a man, tell them that you’re a ‘social worker’. 

After weeks of wiping blood off walls, being punched and spit in the face by angry teenagers ‘beyond remedy’, he can still feel his mom shaking her head on the other end of the line, his father mumbling about wasted potential he could have put into becoming a doctor, or at least a nurse. 

And still, Nate doesn’t regret a second of it, because if anything he has learned during his two years at Short Term 12, it is that it’s all worth it.

It’s worth almost collapsing in the grass after a two-hour session of jumping rope.

It’s worth making an absolute fool of himself when giving freestyle rapping a try.

It’s worth vacuuming couches like it’s his life purpose.

It’s worth the hidden flash of happiness on a boy’s face when he presents him his missing figurine.

It’s even worth having a giant picture of him messily eating a banana hanging on the wall in the office.

Because none of these children are at fault, because they desperately needed help after everyone told them that they didn’t deserve or need it and they brought it on themselves in the first place.

Nate doesn’t believe in second chances.

He’s staying at Short Term 12 without feeling even a tidbit of remorse, without wasting a single thought about what could have been, because right here, these kids don’t get their second chance, and nobody pretends that they do.

They’re getting their first chance. 

Their first chance at getting everything right, because they never got that before coming here.

And if that’s not worth moving into a trailer when he can’t pay his bills anymore, then what is?

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, as said in the tags, this was somewhat of a personal vent about all the things people say about "underprivileged" kids and social workers.   
> Thank you for reading!


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